The packet feeder system of the present invention relates primarily to a system wherein the packets are fed to the magazine by gravity using a track oriented at an appropriate angle for conveying the packets from a feeder source to the uppermost end of the magazine. Frequently, systems of this type use a vibratory bowl feeder as the source of randomly accumulated packets for delivery to the magazine. The vibratory feeder has the capacity to receive and store the packets and, as a consequence of vibration, to move or drive the packets up a delivery path along the inside wall of the bowl. As the packets climb the path, typically they are oriented end to end, single file. Misoriented packets tend to fall back into the bowl. As the packets approach the exit of the bowl, the geometry of the path, guide rails or other devices can be employed to restrict excessively bunched packets, causing them also to fall back into the bowl so that, at the output of the bowl, the packets preferably move in a single file oriented end to end. The packets exit the bowl and drop onto the surface of a gravity feed track that is inclined downwardly so that the packets slide away from the bowl, generally at a rate faster than that at which they are fed from the bowl. This increased rate tends to separate the packets from one another during delivery to the magazine.
As the packets exit the gravity track, the leading end of the packet lands on top of the uppermost or last packet to enter the magazine. This, of course, stops the forward motion of the packet and the tail or trailing end of the packet falls onto the uppermost packet stacked in the magazine. If the packet entering the magazine falls slightly short, it glances off the top of the uppermost packet and strikes the far wall of the magazine which typically is perpendicular to the path of travel along the gravity track. The packet thus entering the magazine strikes the wall directly or after glancing off the top uppermost packet in the stack and lands in an appropriately ordered and oriented position within the magazine.
Under certain circumstances, the removal of the lowermost packets from the bottom of the magazine may exceed the rate at which the packets are delivered to the uppermost portion of the magazine, thus providing a significant gap between the uppermost packet in the magazine and the packet being delivered by the gravity track. This excess room may provide a sufficient distance so the trailing edge of the packet entering the magazine rapidly falls into the magazine as the leading edge thereof strikes the far wall of the magazine. This can cause significant misorientation of the delivered packet since the packet is free to flip and loose proper orientation before landing on top of the stack within the magazine.
It has also been found that as the packets are delivered from the feeder to the gravity track some packets are stacked one on top of another in either a fully overlapping or partially overlapping (shingled) array. Where the packets are fully overlapping, they act as a unit during their travel along the track and entry into the magazine and no significant misorientation is experienced. However, if the packets are shingled, the result is a significant misorientation within the magazine. Bridges form and prevent the packets from falling neatly into the pile, or the trailing edge of the leading packet is pushed up and over by the second packet rather than being allowed to fall down neatly into the stack within the magazine. As mentioned, when the leading edge of the packet impacts on the far wall of the magazine, the trailing edge of the packet tends to fall downwardly and glances off the top of the uppermost packet in the stack. If the leading edge of the partially overlapping trailing packet is below the trailing edge of the leading packet, the sudden downward motion of the first packet can force the leading edge of the second packet down also so that the second packet actually flips over and proper stacking is completely disrupted.